Hearing Aid Problems

[Christopher Wood]

Good morning everyone,

I hope you are all well. As a I mentioned to you before that Dementia has a behavioural component which can be very distressing for the carer. My mum who is 92 has a perforated ear drum and can hear in her left hear with help of a hearing aid.

Without her hearing aid it is difficult for hear and it accelerates the Dementia.

The problem that I have got with the "Dementia Gremlin" is that when I put in the Hearing Aid takes it out. It is a big problem it results in the breakdown in communication and Dementia Gremlin wins on two fronts namely acceleration of the dementia and creates a communication barrier.

Has anyone got any strategies for dealing with this situation.

Please can you advise and whether you have any specific techniques for dealing with this situation.

Many thanks for your help.



Kind Regards

Christopher

 

[SkyeD]

HI @Christopher Wood I had the same problem with my mum - she didn't know how to put the hearing aids in but knew how to take them out (which she did all of the time!) They eventually disappeared - no idea where - we turned the house upside down but had no joy in finding them. I even replaced them, but she couldn't put them in and didn't like them. I must admit, at that point I gave up!
I got around the communication barrier by buying a small whiteboard which I wrote on, along with a notepad (several in fact because she kept misplacing them). The whiteboard was easiest to use because I wrote on and wiped off. The notepads caused a lot of concern because mum wasn't able to work out what was being asked or said - she kept too many notes which confused her even more.
I don't know if that helps?
I did get a bit fed up with other people (such as social workers and the like) constantly saying, "Your mum would benefit from hearing aids..."

 

[Sarasa]

Sarasa, hearing aid fairy here. For hearing aid to work effectively the person using them needs to realise why they are needed and also engage their brain in analysing sounds. People with dementia often forget they need them. My mum forgot she needed glasses for instance.
I think using things like whiteboards but also facing your mum, being sure you have her attention and speaking slowly may help.
I’m severely deaf and can hear very little without aids. My husband and I have developed a very simple sign language that helps for those times I’m not wearing them. I don’t know if that might work, as your mum might be beginning to lose the ability to process speech.

 

[canary]

My OH is now almost completely deaf, but its due to the nerve to the brain and not his ears, so hearing aids dont help. I too have introduced a small white board to take around with us so I and other people can communicate with him.

Then the problem is - "where are my glasses?"........ (sigh)

 

[Cardinal]

I’ve been trying to decide if I should get hearing aids for my husband. He has hearing loss in one ear. He has little to no short term memory which makes it almost impossible to learn anything new. I worry that if I take him to get hearing aids that they’ll just sit on his dresser unused. And it will be just another thing to frustrate him.

 

[jugglingmum]

I'm another one who deployed the white board tactic.

Mum was very deaf pre dementia and as a result of dementia struggled with hearing aids, which I gave up on.

For a few years she could hear if you talked slowly, and clearly with a bit of volume, but not shouting. I used whiteboards with her for the last 5 years of her life.

We had to repeat ourselves multiple times, but in reality this was the dementia processing time not the deafness. I sent mum to hospital in Jan 20 with whiteboards, she was in for 17 days. The ward nurses all said what a wonderful idea and how effective it was and they would get some on the ward - it was the geriatric ward, with most at some stage of dementia - so I was surprised they'd not come across it before.

Her care home were also very pleased with them when she moved there in April 22.

Before that in her sheltered extra care flat, I'd find the 'conversation' she'd had with her carers, which meant I knew they were engaging and chatting with her.

I was dreading what would happen if mum lost the ability to read, but luckily she could still read until the week she passed this summer. Reading the words gave her more time to process things as well. She did lose meaning of some words in her last 12 months, but she could still read them out, just didn't have a clue what they meant.

 

[try again]

There are some pricy hearing aids that live in the ear and need replacing each month. I have often wondered if these would be suitable for PWDs

Oddly my mother's hearing seems to have improved since she's been in the care home. Maybe they wash her ears better 😉😁

 

[Christopher Wood]

Many thanks for your suggestions

On the issue of hearing aids and losing them. One possible solution is a Hearing Aid Clip Holder Anti-lost Lanyard for Adults Seniors plus attaching a "Tile "or Apple Tag to locate the hearing aids if they go missing. I hope this helps. You can get it on Amazon.

 

[Christopher Wood]

HI @Christopher Wood I had the same problem with my mum - she didn't know how to put the hearing aids in but knew how to take them out (which she did all of the time!) They eventually disappeared - no idea where - we turned the house upside down but had no joy in finding them. I even replaced them, but she couldn't put them in and didn't like them. I must admit, at that point I gave up!
I got around the communication barrier by buying a small whiteboard which I wrote on, along with a notepad (several in fact because she kept misplacing them). The whiteboard was easiest to use because I wrote on and wiped off. The notepads caused a lot of concern because mum wasn't able to work out what was being asked or said - she kept too many notes which confused her even more.
I don't know if that helps?
I did get a bit fed up with other people (such as social workers and the like) constantly saying, "Your mum would benefit from hearing aids..."

Many thanks for this but which is useful. However, I am of the opinion we need to develop strategies and techniques for keeping them in. The hearing aids are very useful for music thearpy. The hearing aids also have a Bluetooth capability which can be linked to a tv amplifier or a microphone which aids the hearing. some Phonak hearing aids have that capability. I do think it is vitally important not to give up. One technique I have used that if we go out it is conditional that the hearing aid is worn. This usually works.

 

[SkyeD]

Many thanks for this but which is useful. However, I am of the opinion we need to develop strategies and techniques for keeping them in. The hearing aids are very useful for music thearpy. The hearing aids also have a Bluetooth capability which can be linked to a tv amplifier or a microphone which aids the hearing. some Phonak hearing aids have that capability. I do think it is vitally important not to give up. One technique I have used that if we go out it is conditional that the hearing aid is worn. This usually works.

Thanks Christopher - I'm a Phonak hearing aid user myself so I understand what you're saying. In my mum's case, unfortunately I did have to give up - she'd relied on my dad putting her NHS analogue aids in for her, until he sadly died. She had already refused to have digital ones, despite my dad encouraging her to try.

Then for 7 weeks after dad died, she was in her house on her own before having a fall, being hospitalised, catching Covid, and from there moving into a care home - I didn't live with her, so for those 7 weeks I travelled 13 miles each way every morning to see that she was okay, and and did routine jobs for her which included putting in her hearing aids. They "disappeared" about a week after my dad's death. I bought replacements but she didn't have the capacity to learn new things such as how to switch them on as well as putting them in and she said that she didn't like them anyway. I think that she probably said that to cover her lack of memory.

I spent 2 or 3 hours there each day (I do have a life of my own too) - it was a constant battle with mum, not just with hearing aids, and that's why I gave up with them. There's only so much you can do.

I do like your technique of 'no aids, no go' - hope you discover other things that work.
S x